Wednesday, 9 September 2009

Property Owl Blog is back, long live the blog

Apologies for the lack of posts, I have been .... well, fed up!

If I am honest, and I usually am, I had grown a little disheartened with certain areas of the property industry (i know, we are in a recession). I saw portals opening daily, more software providers giving away their products for free, more agents doing the same things or less. It felt to me that so many were not listening and missing the point. It was all too much, too crowded, too claustrophobic.

So instead of falling into a well of despair I asked myself, what does this industry need?

Apart from less of everything, I concluded we need an entirely new model! And I don't mean sell it yourself websites, tinkering with new pricing models based on leads, clicks, views, subscriptions, free hosting etc etc and I certainly don't mean more portals. I mean a completely new approach. One that turns the industry on its head. Out with the old and in with the new. It is mid life crisis time!

So where to start?

- The law regarding house sale/purchase needs to change (i.e. the Scottish approach)- Agents, if they remain, need to be regulated- The entire industry needs to be rebranded - Should we go communist and let the government control house sales- Surely one feed and one portal is enough- How about every house sale is auctioned on one portal (the land registry)